**5. Modern science**

16 New Approaches to the Study of Marine Mammals

(Fig. 4). Aldrovandi was an uncritical compiler who included legends of mythical animals in

**Figure 4.** Depiction of some marine animals by Aldrovandi (1613): Some show that he actually saw some of those skeletal pieces such as (a) a tooth possible from a sperm whale, (b) a baleen and the prominent tooth of a narwhal (*Monodon monoceros*), (c) a rib and a vertebra, possibly of a large whale, and (d) a scapula. In other cases he illustrated whales with human-like emotions (e); whales with feet

He published *De piscibus libri V, et De cetis lib. vnus* (1613) where he defined "Pisces" as animals covered with scales and "aquatilis" as "anything else that lives in the water" while recognizing that cetaceans are air-breathing creatures. The species that he mentioned were the ones cited by his predecessors: *Balaena*, *Physeter*, *Orca*, *Delphino*, *Phocaena*, and *Tursione*, while including the *Manate Indorum*, *Phoca*, *Pristi* (the sawfish), and the mythical *Scolopendra* 

(f); sawfishes with cetacean characteristics (g); and Pliny's "Scolopendra cetacea" (h), which perpetuated the notion that such animal existed. Overall he was a very uncritical compiler when it

came to marine mammals.

his writings similar to the medieval bestiaries and in the tradition of Pliny.

In this period, observation and experimentation moved to the forefront of science. Classification was based on similarities and differences in characters. During this time English physicians travelled to Padua, Bologna and Paris to be trained in human dissection since the status of medicine in England was still poor. People involved in these kind of activities had a background in either medicine (or "physic" as it was called then) and/or theology (Kruger 2004). During this time the center of gravity of science moved from the Mediterranean world to northern Europe, mostly England.
